Some claim drinking eight glasses of water a day leads to good health, while reading in dim light damages eyesight. Others believe we only use 10% of our brains or that shaving legs causes hair to grow back thicker. But a review of evidence by US researchers surrounding seven commonly-hold beliefs suggests they are actually "medical myths". Some are utterly untrue, while others have no evidential proof, the British Medical Journal reports. Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis hunted medical literature for evidence on each claim. They found no evidence supporting the need to drink eight glasses of water a day. Medical myths In fact, studies suggest that adequate fluid intake is often met by drinking juice, milk, and even caffeine-rich tea and coffee. Data also suggests drinking excessive amounts of water can be dangerous. The belief that we only use 10% of our brains appears to be completely untrue. Studies of patients with brain damage suggest that damage to almost any area of the brain has specific and lasting effects on mental, vegetative and behavioural capabilities. Brain imaging studies also show that no area of the brain is completely silent or inactive. And the belief that hair and fingernails continue to grow after death may be an optical illusion caused by retraction of the skin after death. The actual growth of hair and nails requires a complex interplay of hormonal regulation not present after death. Again, illusion may be to blame for the belief that shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker, and coarser, report author Rachel Vreeman told the BMJ. The stubble resulting from shaving grows out without the finer taper seen at the ends of unshaven hair, giving the impression of thickness and coarseness. Again, expert opinion is that reading in dim light does not damage your eyes. And there is little evidence to support the banning mobile phones from hospitals on the basis of electromagnetic interference. Finally, eating turkey - and the tryptophan amino acid it contains - does not make people especially drowsy. Indeed, turkey, chicken and minced beef contain similar amounts of tryptophan. The researchers explained: "Any large meal can induce sleepiness because blood flow and oxygenation to the brain decrease, and meals rich in protein or carbohydrate may cause drowsiness. Wine may also play a role." Dr David Tovey, editor of Clinical Evidence journal, said: "The difficulty is it is often hard to disprove a theory. "On the flip-side, absence of evidence does not necessarily mean absence of effect. "Where reliable evidence becomes really important is in helping people make serious decisions about harms and risks. "Many of these 'myths' are innocuous. However, we are still finding evidence that runs contrary to current practice and what we expect." He gave the example of the relatively recent U-turn in advice over sleeping positions for babies to cut cot deaths. Experts now recommend babies are positioned on their backs when sleeping to reduce the risk of sudden infant death. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7153880.stm
Pretty good article. I still remember all those ppl saying reading in dim lights result in wearing glasses.
i dunno... this article isn't giving enough details to support the points they r making... at least for the water drinking part anyway...
i remember watching on TV where they got twins to do an experiment. One drank the "recommended" 8 glasses or whatever a day and the other just drank whenever she felt like it I think in the end they tested which one had better skin and there was no conclusive evidence about the benefits of drinking so much water, except needing to go to the toilet more. I mean the only thing you could say is that it flushes out all the nasty stuff in the blood, but personally i dont find drinking more water or less water changes much
@ Dawn Its true that ingesting a lot of H2O can be harmful. H20 by itself doesnt have that much concentration of electrolytes. Once its absorbed inside the body, it elevates the volume of plasma (blood) but electrolytes and proteins will be low in comparison. When this occurs, there would eventually be a shift of H20 from blood to interstitial tissues since water goes to locations where theres a higher concentration of electrolytes/ proteins etc...If the person's cardiovascular system is not good, the person eventually will develop edema. @ Dim Drinking adequate water will increase your concentration, flushes out toxins, provide good and healthy skin.
having good skin takes more than drinking water hahaha... n yeah... it flushes out all the nasty toxins... i drink abt 2L of liquid a day... but it's not just water... in fact it's mostly green tea... i take fibre tablets n i need to drink loads for it to work properly... n also my blood pressure is slightly low so the doctor told me to drink loads of water n thin out the blood so i dun get the dizzy spells... @wind i know drinking too much water is harmful... but ur body will get rid of any excess water... it shouldn't b a problem if u go pee whenever u need to... i once read a newspaper article called "hold ur wee for a wii"... it's abt some drinking competition to win a wii n a winner actually died coz she drank so much n didn't pee out the excess water..
^ Actually died ? That is some dumb way to die...... Just eat/drink what you need, dont eat/drink to much. That is how life is, and how you treat you body.>.<
Not if you do it everyday. Its true that you get rid of the excessive water but you make your body work harder for no reason and eventually wear and tear gets the best of you. moderation in everything is the best. i agree with you.
more money = more problem... im sure as a gold digga you know that jk i think the only thing that no one cant get enough should be love...
I always wondered why we had to turn off our Cellphones in hospitals. I found it kinda of weird that it would cause any real major type of interference. :\
I've also heard that Chicken Noodle Soup helps people recover from colds faster.. wonder if that's true.. o__O
have you never stood next to a pair of speakers when you phone goes off? you get a lot of interference and in a hospital there is a lot of sensitive electronic equipment, possibly keeping someone alive... do you wana mess with that machine?
^^If you drink a lot of water you should make sure to have enough vitamins and minerals. I also heard that it is not safe to drink distilled water because it absorbs the minerals from your body and flushes it out.
water is a must in our human body........ also depend on each individual....... some of them need to drink plenty of water to reduce toxic........ but some of them can't take large of water, body might contain over liquid (swollen legs, body etc)......... as for me, i don't drink plenty of water due swollen body but if I don't drink enough water, i'll get sore throat.....later, fever, sick again!!!!!! depend on individual !!!!!!!!!!!
